In our co-pending U.S. patent entitled "Protective Hood Jacket Resistant to Toxic Environments" U.S. Pat. No. 4,864,654 depicted in FIGS. 1-3 herein as discussed more fully below, there is disclosed a hood-jacket 10 as being formed with a hood portion 10b and jacket portion 10a preferably made of panels of Chloropel fabric heat-sealed together to form a single protective garment. Hood-jacket 10 as best illustrated in FIG. 1, is worn over a self-contained air supply breathing apparatus (such as the M23Al self-contained air supplied breathing apparatus) which breathing apparatus generally comprises an air cylinder 12 strapped to the wearer's back, a regulator assembly 14 having various instrument gauges (not shown in detail) strapped to the wearer's waist and a face mask 16 connected to regulator 14 with air hose 18 extending upwardly along the wearer's chest region for connection to an inlet valve 16a of the mask. As will be seen more fully below, hood-jacket 10 is designed to fit over the M23Al type BA illustrated in the drawings as well as other BAs. Hood jacket 10 is also designed to fit any wearer, regardless of size.
As will be seen more fully below, hood-jacket 10 is preferably formed from panels of material resistant to toxic chemicals, which panels may be heat-sealed together along their peripheries to form the basic garment of the hood-jacket. A plastic vinyl material is used to form a visor 20 which is easily heat-sealed along its periphery to the fabric panels forming the hood portion 10b. The hood-jacket 10 is preferably of hip length and short-sleeved. There may be a large hump 22 (FIG. 1) formed in the rear portion of the jacket 10a to accommodate air cylinder 12 of the BA and to allow for forward bending.
There is a combination closure in the back of jacket portion 10a, as best depicted in FIG. 3, comprising a metal zipper 23 and a Chloropel zip-loc closure 25 for sealable opening and closing of the jacket portion rear for air bottle replacement and donning/doffing of the garment.
In addition to the foregoing seals 23,25, vapor leakage is in general mechanically reduced by two types of seals within hood-jacket 10 of the invention. The first type, as will be seen below, encompasses the garment peripheries at the hip and sleeve ends. These seals incorporate cable drawstrings and are adjustable. The second type constitute internal collars, a few inches up from the ends of the sleeves and around the waist and neck. These elastic collars are also self-adjustable. The elastic collar inside the hood, in the neck area, is designed to further reduce vapor infiltration into the area. This collar may have a frontal velcro closure which fastens around the BA mask inlet air tube.
As discussed above, hood portion 10b is that portion of hood-jacket 10 which is worn over the head. Hood portion 10b is preferably a combination of chlorinated polyethylene plastic material and, in particular fabric panels 26 thereof which may be heat-sealed together as at 27 (FIG. 3). The panels 26 are also heat-sealed to visor 20 as depicted in FIG. 2. Visor 20, such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) of transparent optical quality, may constitute a major portion of hood 10b to provide for optimum viewing conditions by the wearer.
The torso or jacket portion 10a of hood-jacket 10 is also formed of chlorinated polyethylene fabric panels 26a that may be heat-sealed together at their peripheries (see FIG. 3) as at 29 to form the basic jacket configuration. A pair of sleeves 30 also formed of chlorinated polyethylene heat-sealable plastic material are heat-sealed to the fabric panels 26a of jacket portion 10a (see, e.g., FIG. 3). The hood and jacket fabric panels 26,26a and visor 20 are then heat-sealed together as depicted in FIG. 2 to form the basic outer garment of the hood-jacket. A chlorinated polyethylene fabric strip 33 (FIG. 2) may be used to connect the hood or visor and jacket fabric panels together in heat-sealing relationship.
An anti-fog kit schematically shown at 35 may be fixed to a portion of fabric panels 26 of hood 10b outside seal 27 as depicted in FIG. 3. More specifically, anti-fog kit 35 is secured to a grommet 37 heat-sealed to fabric panel portions 26 atop the hood and secured thereto by string 37a. Anti-fog kit 35 consists of instructions, an anti-fog compound and a wiping cloth all enclosed in a plastic bag 35a. The compound is a medium hard wax-type substance that is applied like a crayon over the inner surface of visor 20 and gauge viewing windows 39 and 41 discussed infra. The compound is then rubbed with the fingers to cover the entire areas and the excess is removed by means of the wiping cloth. Its purpose is to reduce fogging of the inside of visor surfaces for clearer vision.
Oval gauge window 39 and square gauge window 41 are both assembled in the front part of jacket portion 10a, as depicted in FIG. 2. Their function is to allow the user to view the front mounted pressure gauges forming part of regulator 14 of the BA worn beneath the hood-jacket 10. It is to be noted that each window 39 and 41 is preferably made of the same PVC material as visor 20 and heat-sealed into the fabric panels 26a of the jacket.
With reference now to FIG. 3, the combination closure 25 is heat-sealed in the rear of jacket portion 10a and comprises an inner metal zipper 23 and an outer double channel zip-loc plastic zipper (not shown in detail) 40 providing a good mechanical seal. The functions of zippers 23,40 are to establish an opening in the rear of jacket portion 10a on each half thereof for donning/doffing the hood-jacket 10 and for access to air cylinder 12 for replacement, without removing the garment. For a good air-tight seal, the two channels of zip-loc 40 are preferably filled with petroleum jelly on one side prior to donning. The zip-loc 40 may be opened by grasping adjacent pull tabs 42a and 42b starting at the bottom of the jacket to pull the zip-loc apart. The tabs 42a, 42b are mounted on reinforcement fabric strips 43 which overlap fabric panels 26 to provide a one inch in width heat seal all around the closure opening (FIG. 3). The double plastic channels 40 of the zip-loc plastic zipper are fixed to these reinforcement panels as depicted in FIG. 3.
Waist draw cord 47 is pulled tight to the waist of the wearer and held in place by a B-lock fastener 49. Waist collar barrier 50 is pulled snug about the waist higher than the draw cord 47 and fastened by means of hook and pile fasteners 51 and 53 sewn to the ends of the waist collar barrier. The waist collar barrier is preferably formed by a piece of elastic webbing positioned within a channel formed by an overlapping lower edge of the fabric panel at 57. Waist draw cord 47 is also formed within a channel formed by overlapping a piece of fabric panel 26a and then heat-sealing the same together.
The neck collar barrier 70 is also defined by a piece of elastic webbing 72 received within a closed channel 73 formed in a chlorinated polyethylene length of material 74 having heat-sealed overlapping edges which material is also heat-sealed to fabric panels 26a. The neck collar barrier 70 is thereby located inside hood-jacket 10 at the base of hood 10b to effect a seal between the inside of the jacket area and the hood.
The waist draw cord 47 and the sleeve draw cord 60 are the initial means of producing an air-tight seal. The waist collar barrier and the sleeve collar barrier 65 are secondary seals to prevent leakage into the jacket area. The waist, sleeve and neck collar barriers are preferably made of a thinner chlorinated polyethylene material which are heat-sealed to the inside of the hood-jacket fabric panels 26, 26a in the areas shown and have elastic webbing affixed to the inner portion which fits snug to those portions of the wearer's body. The neck collar barrier 70, which fits snug to the neck above the collar of the wearer's protective suit worn beneath, prevents any leakage in the jacket area from entering the hood area.
Neck collar barrier 70 preferably includes a split cone configuration 100 in the center of the front portion of the barrier material. The purpose of the split cone is to provide a means of sealing around the air supply hose 18 of the BA and the exhalation duct. The air hose 18 extends from the waist area up to the air mask 16 on the wearer's face. The exhalation duct hose (not shown) extends from the mask down into the chest area of the hood-jacket. A seal is effected around the air hose 18 and exhalation duct by the wrap around cone seal 100 and fastened in place by vertical and wrap around hook and pile fasteners.
More specifically, and with reference to FIGS. 3A-3D, the cone seal 100 is formed of neck collar barrier material (similar to the material forming collar 70) 102 folded into a cone shape having an upper diameter greater than the lower diameter. The cone seal 100 is open as at 104, the opening being defined by two edges 106a and 106b extending the entire length of the cone. A snap fastener having mating halves 108a and 108b are located at the top of each edge 106a and 106b, respectively, and hook and pile fastener strips 110 and 112 (e.g., Velcro) are secured on the inner vertical surface of seal material 102 adjacent the edges 106a and 106b. Tightening straps 114 having hook material 116 on one side and pile material 118 on the opposite side are vertically spaced from each other and secured to lower and middle portions of the cone seal.
Once the air hose and exhalation duct are positioned through the center of the cone seal 100, the vertical sides or edges 106a and 106b are wrapped snugly around the air hose and exhalation duct and the open edges 106a and 106b are brought together. The inside vertical hook and pile straps 110 and 112 contact each other and hold the cone in the FIG. 3C position. The final closure and seal is effected by snapping the fastener halves 108a and 108b together and wrapping the two adjustment and tightening straps 114 around the cone. The length of the straps 116 is sufficient so that the hook surface 116 on one side of the cone will contact the pile surface 118 on the other side so that the cone seal is fully closed as depicted in FIG. 3D in sealing contact with the air hose and exhalation duct.
The next seal 100 is secured to neck collar barrier 70 such as with stitching along the upper edges of the cone material 102. The cone suspends freely below the neck collar barrier 70 as depicted in FIG. 3A and the partial side elevation view of FIG. 3E.
The hood-jacket 10 of our invention has a unique combination of internal seals, such as the cable draw cords and internal collar barriers, which together with the overall hood-jacket configuration achieve an extremely tight fit resulting in essentially no internal leakage. The hood jacket 10 and BA are designed to be worn over protective rubber suits which are in current use. There may be a very small amount of leakage depending on the physical activity of the wearer, which may get past the draw cord and collar barrier seals of the waist and sleeve and into the torso area. However this occurs, it is contained between the outside of the protective suit and inside of the jacket part of the garment and the neck collar barrier. There is no wearer's skin exposed in this area.
Because of the neck collar seal 70, there tends to be a buildup of moisture inside the enclosed hood of the hood-jacket 10. This moisture disadvantageously causes fogging of the inside of the hood lens 20. The moisture buildup results from not only the perspiration of the skin of the wearer's head and neck, but also from the exhaled breath of the BA. Fogging caused by perspiration is somewhat controllable and, in any event, does not significantly contribute to the fogging problem. However, exhaled breath, which contains more than 60% moisture, is the most significant factor contributing to the fogging problem. This can be eliminated by venting exhaled breath outside of the enclosed hood. Venting through the hood wall to the outside involves sensitive valve assemblies and possibly dangerous backflow of contaminated outside air, and is therefore disadvantageous.